Steve Cherundolo and Hannover had a rough afternoon in Bayern's Allianz Arena while Michael Bradley helped nine-man Borussia Mönchengladbach keep it close in their loss to Hoffenheim.

FC Bayern 3 - 0 Hannover 96

Steve Cherundolo and Hannover suffered their second straight defeat, giving up a trio of goals to previously-misfiring Mario Gomez as Bayern took all three points in the Allianz Arena on Saturday.

DaMarcus Beasley suited up for the game, however was left on the bench as an unused substitute for Hannover coach Mirko Slomka

The hosts were first on the scoreboard after 21 minutes thanks to an unlikely character, as Hamit Altintop fired a cross from the upper right corner of the penalty area towards goal, where forward Mario Gomez connected with a diving header, thus ending his drought of 13 league games without a goal which had stretched back to February.

Hannover weathered the storm of Bayern's attack and kept the game close for nearly the next hour, however saw any lingering hopes of taking home any points quelled with 13 minutes left in regulation.

Youngster Toni Kroos chipped a pass into the area to Gomez, which the German international first controlled before leaving Hannover defender Christian Schulz and sending his shot into the net for the 2-0 lead.

Gomez then completed his hat trick in the dying moments of the game, heading a Thomas Müller cross high over keeper Florian Fromlowitz to the far upper corner to complete the rout.

The loss drops Hannover down to seventh place, sandwiched between St. Pauli and Eintracht Frankfurt. They return home on Saturday to host struggling Cologne.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim 3 - 2 Borussia Mönchengladbach

Michael Bradley marked his return from international duty with a 90-minute appearance for the Foals, notching up an assist on their injury-time goal as they suffered defeat in Hoffeinheim on Sunday.

The Foals struck first, taking the lead after 12 minutes when Bradley launched a free kick from his team's side of the field, which Marco Reus one-timed into the area straight to the onrushing Raul Bobadilla.

The Argentine striker first chested the ball to his feet, then sent a short chipped shot over the head of keeper Tom Starke and into the net giving his team hope of breaking their five-game winless streak.

While they held their advantage for the remainder of the half, Hoffenheim's quick attack struck back just seconds after the break to equalize.

Kokou Mlapa made a blazing run up the right side of the field to leave Filip Daems in the dust, then sent a low pass across the face of goal which Demba Ba slid in to knock into goal to bring matters even.

Juan Arrango foolishly put his team at a disadvantage two minutes past the hour mark when he felt the need to endanger the future offspring of Sejad Salihovic after what he perceived to be an unfair challenge from behind, receiving a red card from referee Michael Weiner for his well-targeted kick.

Hoffenheim quickly capitalized after their attacking pressure led to defender Anderson to head the ball into his own net as he tried to defend a corner five minutes later.

The Foals saw their situation worsen with nine minutes remaining when Sebastian Schachten was forced to pull Ba down just inside the penalty area.

Schachten was shown red as the last defender, and Salihovic put away the resulting spot kick to give the hosts an insurmountable two-goal advantage.

Gladbach grabbed a consolation goal in the final minute of regulation when Bradley found Mohamadou Idrissou with a free kick to the left side of Hoffenheim's area, giving the Cameroonian international the chance to show his skill in beating the defender and hitting his low shot past Starke for the final 3-2 scoreline.

Gladbach are still barely above the bottom three despite the loss, now just one point ahead of Schalke. They will have a tough time to put any space between themselves and the drop zone when they host Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Karlsruher SC 0 - 2 VfL Bochum

Luis Robles went the distance in Karlsruhe's goal on Saturday afternoon, falling victim to lackluster play by the defense in their two-goal shut-out loss to visiting Bochum.

Bochum jumped ahead in the 24th minute when Faton Toski poked a pinpoint pass through three approaching Karlsruhe defenders to North Korean import Jong Tae-Se, which "the People's Rooney" fought to control before knocking his low drive under the reach of Robles for the lead.

The visitors struck again quickly with Toski again playing provider, sending a free kick from the right flank into the box for Anthar Yahia to head into goal past the diving Robles two minutes later.

Andreas Schäfer was inches away from taking one back for the hosts with eight minutes remaining in the first half, however his 42-yard blast crashed into the right goal post leaving Bochum with the lead.

Robles kept his team with a glimmer of hope, first coming out the winner of a one-on-one situation with Mahir Saglik in the 66th, then barely clearing a fine free kick from Toski seven minutes later.

The Karlsruhe attack was however unable to fine the initiative to turn the game in their favor, slumping to their third defeat in four league games.

The loss leaves Karlsruhe in 12th place, with their next game a duel of American keepers when they visit David Yelldell and Duisburg.

Rot Weiss Ahlen 1 - 1 SV Sandhausen

Matt Taylor played the full 90 minutes for Ahlen on Saturday afternoon, as the team shook off news of potential bankruptcy to fight back for a hard-earned draw against visiting SV Sandhausen.

Ahlen were given the golden opportunity to take hold of the game when Sandhausen defender Roland Benschneider was sent off just before the half with his second booking.

Taylor came close to putting Ahlen ahead when Sandhausen keeper Frederic Löhe barely cleared his shot on the hour mark, however sloppy play on the defensive end gifted their hosts the lead with 20 minutes remaining as Ahlen keeper Phillip Kühn felled Frank Lönig in the area, allowing substitute Daniel Jungwirth to convert from the spot, putting Sandhausen ahead.

The hosts did manage to salvage the draw as Kühn launched a long ball up the field which Marcus Piossek took and fired past Löhe for the equalizer.

Ahlen remain perched just above the relegation zone in 17th with the point, two ahead of FC Bayern II, who they will visit on Saturday.

Notes

Jermaine Jones sat our Schalke's 2-2 draw at last-place Stuttgart on Saturday due to a pair of yellow cards in the team's previous game prior to the international break.

Daniel Williams was an unused substitute for Freiburg for their 2-1 loss at Werder Bremen on Saturday.

Ricardo Clark was not included on Eintracht Frankfurt's bench on Sunday as they blew out Kaiserslautern on the road by a 3-0 scoreline.

Amaechi Igwe is still recovering from a knee injury and did not suit up for Ingolstadt's 2-1 loss on Sunday at Aachen.

Kenny Cooper is still out as he recovers from a broken ankle and did not factor into 1860 Munich's scoreless draw at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen on Sunday afternoon.

David Yelldell will man the nets on Monday night for Duisburg as they attempt to climb back into the 2. Bundesliga's promotion spots on their trip to last-place Arminia Bielefeld.